


Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

by Anonymous



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Cardverse, Gen, Prophecies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23845105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Arthur has received a prophecy. Either he kills the Queen of Diamonds, of his Kingdom will fall.We all know which he’ll choose.
Kudos: 10
Collections: Anon Works





	Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The Red Joker sees the future, but rarely does he speak it. 

_ Because of their Queen, Diamonds will prosper,  _ he says one moonlit night, kicking his legs on the windowsill as if he hadn’t just broken in and awoken Arthur from his slumber.  _ But your Kingdom will be the price. War will be declared, and under the might of three Kingdom, Spades will cease to exist. Your actions will decide the future. _

_ Now, Queen Spades, now that I’ve told you this what will you do? _

The next moment a fireball shoots through the air the child had just occupied, vanishing with a poisonous giggle. Hearing the commotion the guards rush in, only to be shouted out by the ill-tempered Queen. As the doors shut behind them, Arthur can muster up only one thought. Jokers cannot tell a lie.

He calls Yao.

Francis’ Queen is beautiful as the rumors say. Full, rosy cheeks and flashing, lively eyes, golden hair flying around, muscles rippling as she moves for her sword. Blessed by the Players indeed. But Arthur has never been one for superstition and the next second she’s lying on the ground, strong body burnt to a crisp. The scent of cooking flesh does not even in Arthur’s tempered brain as he stares numbly down at the young girl he has just killed. Francis had held off the wedding until she came of age. A child. He has just killed a child.

Leaving Yao to deal with the mess, he stumbles away, hand covering his mouth as he tries to escape the reality of what he has just done. He does not make it to the toilet.

Normally Alfred is the most self-absorbed brat you could find in the four Kingdoms, but even he voices some concern over Arthur’s state. Yao tells him he ought to wash up a bit and pull himself together before he faces his people. His reflection is one he hardly recognizes, dark circles bagging under his eyes, unkempt hair practically sprouting nests of their own. Dark, haunting eyes stare back at him through mirror, accusing, blaming, reminding Arthur of his sins.

He breaks the mirror. Blood runs freely down his hand, shards decorating the tiled floor. 

Francis is distraught. He keeps the search going for five years, refusing to believe she is gone, progressively becoming tireder and breaking a little more every day. Arthur does his best to convince him to give up his search, but Francis is a desperate man clinging onto a perceived lifeline, and there is nothing he can do short of confessing to the murder himself. Eventually his Captain puts a stop to it, and the Jack’s sister is temporarily substituted in until they find a permanent replacement. Francis gives in to his despair, closing himself in his rooms and refusing to come out. Arthur refuses to feel guilty. Alfred gets a new servant.

Their explosive argument shakes the very foundations of the castle. Arthur wants to invade Diamonds immediately, taking famous wealth for themselves before anyone else can lay a claim to it. It is the perfect time, Francis is despondent, his new Queen has no clue what she should be doing and their Ace is missing, as always. Only the Jack is doing his duty, but even he cannot fight a war alone.

Alfred is concerned with the public’s opinion, or more like, concerned with Francis, and refuses to invade even though if it were anyone else he would be glad to. It ends with him storming off, his servant chasing after his heels but having enough time to send a pitying glance his way. It immediately infuriates him. He does not require a servant’s  pity . He is not that weak. He throws one of his favourite teacups, stomping away before he can see the result of the ensuing shatter.

It is many late nights poring over documents, days of foregoing sleep before Arthur admits his loss. There is no way for a Queen to get out from underneath the thumb of their King, no way to evade connotations of the roles bestowed upon them by the Players. No way to stop Alfred from bringing about the Kingdom’s destruction. On the chart beside him are markers of four colours. The yellows are fencing the black lines to the South, standing strong as Green and Red creep up from either side. The Black markers are split, the larger group moving towards Clubs while the smaller group-the one Arthur convinced to stay-are stationed in the castle. Even here, as no more than pawns on a chessboard, Arthur can feel their urge to follow their comrades into battle, regardless if it is suicide. To follow their King, no matter what the Queen says. He smashes his forehead against the table. 

There is a presence behind him and he springs to his feet, half-expecting to see the child who had brought this miserable situation about there, leering, mocking, making fun of him after pulling them all into his childish game. It is not. For a second he thinks it is Alfred, only that is impossible, Alfred is leading his army into battle, he cannot possibly be here-

His servant. The one who looks remarkably like him, the one who’s stood in for him for many royal meetings. He casts his mind for a name. Matthew. That was it.

Matthew looks pale in the moonlight, as unearthly as a ghost as he pours Arthur tea. No one had ever made him tea before, not unless he griped and groaned about it. He stares. Matthew shuffles backward, looking faintly surprised at the attention. Guilt stings his frozen heart as he sees the staunched blood on his head. They don’t say word to each other, but as the clock ticks closer to midnight, steam billowing off the perfectly made liquid, Arthur can feel the beginnings of a mutual understanding blossoming between them. He drinks.

Matthew stares, interested, at the chart. By the time he’s left, the black markers have taken over half the map.

Matthew is a very quiet young man, brimming with youth and innocence and all the things that Arthur lacks. Yet, he reads, he thinks, he knows his position and the decorum and never fails to give Arthur the respect he deserves. Yao warns Arthur of the questionable and nonexistent nature of his background, but Arthur does not allow his worries to get in the way. After all, if background was all that decided a person, then Arthur himself would not be Queen. When nothing more comes up, Yao silences himself and Matthew continues pouring Arthur tea. 

One night he does not show up. Arthur knows it is foolish to look for a servant but Alfred’s already blown that out of the water by declaring him kidnapped and sending all the guards out to look, despite him having been gone for less than 30 minutes. It is because of this Arthur does not fear public embarrassment as he hurries through the gardens. Against the pale moon, a two piercing red eyes stare out from the wall. Arthur instantly ducks behind an overgrown bush.

The Black Joker. 

The servant is whispering in his ear, the Joker is nodding along. What Arthur hears makes his blood run cold. His sins have caught up to him at last.

Finally the Joker leaves, springing away into the forest. The servant waves him off and returns to the castle, face uncommonly serious. Only he never makes it there.

If he cannot escape his sins, then he will cover them under a black, starless blanket of silence.

Alfred never finds the boy. He drives himself half-mad, tearing through his Kingdom and demanding access to Hearts, but he is rebuffed at the border. Tension grows, and Arthur says nothing. It is not like what he says will make a difference anyways. Yao‘s worry is tangible, but he tells Arthur what he had discovered. It is no surprise. Arthur had spotted the Diamond mark on his shoulder, telling of the true reason why he had come and that is why he buried him under the Yarrows and unbloomed crocuses. Yao bites his lip. He does not ask what happened to the boy. That is what Arthur likes about him. Wise and silent. A dependable secret keeper.

It comes out. Everything. Yao swears he did not tell a soul, and Arthur believes him because they have dug up Matthew’s body. Yao did not know where the boy had betrayed him.

Alfred is furious, and actually tries to charge him with a sword before the Ace stops him. He is dragged off kicking and screaming, sobbing,  _ you killed Mattie! You crazy psychopath!  _ and is locked in the dungeons.

Arthur wished it could be that easy to deal with Jeanne’s death. Despite nearly being on the verge of bankruptcy a newly awakened Francis declares war. Bolstered by the rumors of Arthur’s crimes, Clubs and Hearts prepare their army also. They speed through Arthur’s land, weakened army no match for the full force of three Kingdoms. 

Three Kingdoms. Arthur pauses.

War will be declared, and under the might of three Kingdom, Spades will cease to exist. Your actions will decide the future.

His actions had decided the future, eh? He busts out laughing. That is how they find him, alone, teacup shaking in his hand. Francis drags him to sword-point, growling out threats that don’t matter anymore, not with his Kingdom burning. Purged of evil, of magic, of all spirits that might have remained. Of crimes, of regrets, of the dead eyes of two young folks. Of a cursed prophecy, a cursed night, of a child with poisonous words falling from his lips, starting the clock ticking. And for the third time, the clock strikes midnight.

**Author's Note:**

> What did I write?... 
> 
> In case you didn’t get it (the end was pretty unclear) Matthew was the Ace of Diamonds. He came to the Kingdom to find out the perpetrator of Jeanne’s death.


End file.
